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PEOPLE | Staff Reporter, Philippines

Published: 18 Nov 13

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Here's what's been bugging ASEAN power industry for so long

The OWL Group is the only truly ASEAN high end power engineering consultancy company having been established in Thailand and expanded into the Philippines. By staff numbers OWL is the third largest company in our sector in ASEAN. OWL is named after the bird of wisdom and provides the wisdom to develop projects in a safe, environmentally friendly and cost effective manner.

Although OWL's core business is engineering consulting it also develops projects in which it is an equity shareholder. This unique approach means that OWL understands the risks and concerns of its clients in more depth than many of its competitors whether they be boutique or global consulting companies.

Issues in ASEAN

Tony Segadelli, OWL’s Managing Director, was one of the speakers at the recently held POWER-GEN Asia conference in Bangkok. He spoke on the characteristics of the power industry within Southeast Asia, from the holistic impact of the ASEAN integration, down to the effects on the power industry. These insights gave an opportunity for companies that are either new to ASEAN or want to expand around the region to better understand the opportunities and the environment in which they will be operating.

Mr. Segadelli noted that one of the main issues in the ASEAN power industry is labor. Singapore is reluctant to have more immigrants and the Philippines desperately needs people to return. “There’s basically a labor shortage of skilled labor in the Philippines. As a company that recently set up there, I’ve seen a lot higher wages than I was expecting. Although the quality is there, but you do have to pay a lot more,” said Segadelli.

He added,“Capital is going to move more easily around the region, and that’s going to focus government’s mentalities towards making investments in these countries more attractive.”

Philippine Project

OWL is working on a 19.6 megawatt solar project in the Philippines. It’s the first utility scale PV project in the country because the way they feed in tariff is set up, you have to go commercial first before you can get your final permit in place to be an accredited seller.

“Most companies are reluctant to invest in such an environment, which enabled my client to move forward and develop the project. OWL’s role is to manage the design and construction phase, instead of being a traditional Owner’s Engineer, OWL is acting as an EPC(M) Contractor. There are four contractors –one is a civil contractor, one is the electrical contractor, one is the key equipment supplier, and the other one is the civil designer.” said Segadelli.

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